This move is much less about what Olshey thinks about Kanter. Sure he's awful on defense. But he's a big body, and we now have long athletic guys that can cover from the weakside to mask that inability. His scoring in the paint is what we are after. But more importantly than the points he can provide to open things up for Dame, is the fact that this move is more about hurting a division foe by forcing them to committ to 16 million in cap space at a crucial time when they will likely need it all to resign Durant and Westbrook to Max deals. I don't think either returns. So if you are Sam Presti do you commit the 16 Million to a center who can't defend on his own and how do you convince marquee free agents to come play with him.....You don't as no one will want to. Presti almost has to sign him in order to keep Durant interested and OKC competitive, but in reality it kind of screws them moving forward. It's a win win as far as I am concerned. Blazers get a young Big Man who can score, we have players to help him on defense and his contract will look small in 2 years when the cap balloons to 100 mil. It's only a 4 year deal so he'll be good trade bait even if he doesn't workout with our squad. Good move by the GM even if I don't like how the rest of free agency was handled.
Leonard will play more at the 4 than the 5. They can play together. Actually Kanter can play with either Plumlee or Leonard. Great signing. Hurts OKC or benefits us. Either way we win here.
